


The Rock and the Torch

by forcefields



Category: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Fantastic Four (Movies), Marvel
Genre: Johnny is kinda pretty much oblivious, M/M, cute lil bonding moment, pining(?? Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23518096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forcefields/pseuds/forcefields
Summary: Ben and Johnny have a moment after rescuing some Martians.
Relationships: Ben Grimm/Johnny Storm
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	The Rock and the Torch

What he would've given for the power of flight...

Entering the stratosphere in Sue's invisible orb, Reed to his left and she in front, Ben's gaze tracked the human flame arcing around them. With a shout that seemed unlikely to ever lose enthusiasm, Johnny proceeded fast as a shot down to the earth below. As he surged, Ben caught the smallest sigh from a certain elder sister, despite being visually enraptured by a rapidly growing inferno.

"He's gonna make himself sick," she said, "he's _so_ gonna puke when we get down there."

Ben gave the slightest chuckle, turning to Reed. "Thought you warned him 'bout the dangers, Stretch?"

"I did." Reed replied, only half-serious with an unsurprised smirk on his face, "Did _you_ expect him to listen?"

Lifting his shoulders, Ben mirrored his best friend's expression. "It's always worth having a little faith."

*

When they met up with Johnny again, all Four had their feet on their ground and the youngest of the Family, against his sister's expectations, had not thrown up.

"What did I tell ya?" he grinned, extending his arms outwards, "I've mastered the power of flight."

Nodding and smiling with the same unimpressed undertone, Sue folded her arms across her chest. "You got lucky."

Her little brother scoffed as if offended. He probably was, a little. "You guys seein' this bullying going on?"

"Nope," Ben mused, casting his eyes to the blue, cloudless sky on cue, "not a damn thing."

Johnny honed in on Reed, hoping his sister's husband - definitely in the most awkward position here - would back him up. "Reed, as team leader..."

The trailing off and lack of response from everyone led Ben's line of sight to come down. _Oh, perfect._ Emerging from the military base with his bunch of sharp-suited, sardine-looking pals, Thunderbolt Ross looked equally happy to see the heroes.

With a dryness, and quietly, despite the good distance between them, Ben declared, "Here comes the party."

Reed, taking in their situation with an assertive nod, looked between his best friend and brother-in-law. "Sue and I'll take this. You guys wait here."

He looked then to his wife; they linked themselves with arms around each other's backs, sharing a smile that relaxed the anxiety building beneath Ben's surface. (He only had bad memories of the military, after all.) As they made to leave, Sue also made sure to quadruple-emphasise her statement. " _On the ground_."

Her brother rolled his eyes, turning away dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I'll try and keep Ben from flying off."

"Don't think I'm the one with gravity-defying abilities, matchstick."

"You sure? That piece of Mars you threw was pretty big."

Chuckling, shaking his head, Ben followed Johnny over to a bunch of apparently - or at least, temporarily - abandoned crates. Small but powerful flames blasting beneath his feet, Johnny perched himself on the highest one. From there, he looked down on Ben, who clicked his tongue. _Typical._

Not that he was complaining, of course. Where he was looking, was there quite the sight to behold. Johnny sat surprisingly straight, not with the slouch one might expect from his personality type (then again, Johnny was no singular thing, nor easy read). The style, more so the material, composing their suits gave him a very 'sculpted' look, his taut muscle almost fighting the material. Thank God, Ben wasn't afforded much time to stare because usually, in those suits, something, someone or multiples were on the aggressive and one had no time to place attention elsewhere. Sniffing - random - Johnny fuzzed a hand through his hair, fluffy blonde, and gazed unto the horizon.

"Hey, Ben?"

He sounded distant all of a sudden. Ben held in a frown. "Yeah?"

Johnny hesitated. Exhaling through his nostrils, making Ben wait, he eventually came out with: "Never mind."

_Riiight. "Never mind." Sure, kid. Wasn't holding my breath to breaking point or nothing._

Ben let it go with a brief laugh. "Alright."

He couldn't, however, let his gaze go from Johnny. Why'd the hell whoever it was - God, some great and powerful universal entity, maybe an alien dog - make the other single member of his team attractive? Why'd They make Ben's heart go running after him? Pointless endeavour, he'd always thought, but no matter how much he tried to push the feelings away, they stayed.

This moment here, right now, it reminded him of one summer evening, what, six years ago? A year prior to the accident. They'd sat out here, in this spot or close enough, just the two of them. Reed and Sue had gone to grab takeout or something; he couldn't really remember. It wasn't an irrelevant point, really, since his head, as it did in the present, was swimming in thoughts of the guy sitting beside him.

"Ben?"

It took the big guy a moment to return to reality. He stumbled out a "yeah?" to Johnny's inquisitive expression.

"You good? You seem a little upset about me being up here."

_Do I? Shit..._

"Nah," he was swift to reassure him (hopefully, not too quick), but then, feeling a little brave, 'cause like hell, Johnny wouldn't take it as a taunt, he added, "I was just admirin' the view."

What happened in the next few seconds was completely left-field - Ben had rarely ever seen this, you see - 'this', Johnny's face going redder than the sun. Ben swore, as his heart rate sped up, that steam started rolling off Johnny in rapid, albeit brief, waves. He could only _just_ swear on it, though, because in just as short a space of time, the smoke was gone and Johnny was shaking his head at him. "You're an odd one, man."

"And you're perfectly normal," Ben retorted (gentle enough), "setting on fire and shit."

Johnny sighed as if truly, _terribly_ bothered. "We have such great, intellectual conversations."

"And here he comes with the big words!" his teammate declared, "Geez. Reed'd be proud to see you now."

The corners of the young flame's mouth quirked up. "Or collapsed."

With a chuckle, Ben miraculously managed to move his gaze back to the above. "Yeah."

He believed a silence, hopefully, comfortable enough, would then pass over them. But Johnny spoke barely a second into it.

"So - Sue mentioned to me that Reed and her were thinking about starting a family."

Although his eyebrows were raised, Ben affirmed his statement with, "Reed mentioned as much to me."

"Right, yeah, so - as parents, or expecting ones, or whatever, they're not gonna be wanting to do the superhero gig."

"So?"

Johnny pushed his tongue against his cheek for a while, then, proposed a concept. "The Rock and the Torch," he said, "solos together."

Ben's heart may or may not have skipped a beat. He certainly didn't act like it did. "How long did you spend on that slogan?"

"You like it?" Johnny was eyeing him, maybe gullible, maybe amused, maybe both. Ben couldn't quite get a read on him currently.

"It's impactful," he answered, "on my brain cells."

Smiling, Johnny folded his arms across his chest, a trait he shared with his sister. "You still have some of those?"

"Well, if I do," Ben smirked, "guess we're both clinging on."

"Yeah, fuck you, too."

A moment passed. Ben broke it. "When d'you wanna break it to the couple, then?"

"What?"

"Our partnership, flames."

Johnny looked startled, his face again taking on a flush. "Our wha - _oh_. That! Um..."

He hopped down from the crates, no flames breaking his fall (not that he was affected by the landing. "Yeah, um, soon."

He ran a hand erratically through his hair, before suddenly pointing ahead of them. Ben followed his fingertip; Reed and Sue, thankfully on their lonesome, were coming back. "Now, we could do it now! They're literally right over there!"

A smile cracked across Ben's face. "Torches first."

Johnny scoffed at him - but said nothing further, taking off with a little fire in his step towards the others. For a moment, Ben stood in place.

He didn't know if he'd ever get Johnny, in either sense of the word. But, hell, it was starting to look like there might be some point in trying. Keeping what would've been a much bigger smile at bay, Ben followed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hope you enjoyed ~ 
> 
> Please leave feedback if you wish! Thanks ^ . ^ ❤


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